Brothers
by Houndmon
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to Ash's dad? Well here is my take. rated T because someone dies/ is dead.
1. Funeral

Ok I had an idea for this when I was taking a nap in pre cal. Yes I know napping in an advance math class is not smart. Anyways this is my version on who is and what happened to Ash's dad. I hate to say this but it is a sad story. I seperate Koda's narrative and the accually story by this ===========

disclamer: I do not own Pokemon, I wish I did though.

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I sit by a coffin, remembering the good old days. I look around the funeral and see his wife, with their 5 year old son. She was crying over the coffin, asking her husband why he went. I walked over to her, hoping to comfort her. Their son looked at me with big puffy eyes. I patted his mother on the shoulder and when she looked at me, I pointed down towards the boy. She understood that I wanted to talk to him, so she let go of his hand and, I picked him up. I went a little distance away and, sat down on a nearby chair.

"Do you know that I raised your daddy?" He shook his head, tears still streaming down his face. "Would you like to how I met him?"

"Yes, sir."

I can remember it like yesterday. I was sitting on my patio, looking at the stars with my old partner, Zeus. I really shouldn't call him old, he is sixty like me. Like I was saying, we were looking at the stars outside my cabin, near Pallet Town, when I heard a whimpering sound close by.

"Hush, Richie! Do you want them to hear you?"

Zeus stood up and started to head to the sound. I grabbed my cane and followed my Jolteon. I found Zeus sniffing two little boys, both of them scared. The older of the two looked about ten, had slick brown hair and, was somewhat muscular. The youngest looked about 6, had messy black and, looked half-starved. Both of the boys where in torn up blue jeans and old t-shirts.

"What are you two doing out here, in the middle of the night? Do your parents know where you are?" I asked them, as sweetly as I could. The youngest whimpered when I mentioned their parents. The oldest puffed out his chest and answered as brave as he could.

"We are going to Pallet Town, sir. We were going to a friend of our dad's."

"Well, whoever it is, is probably asleep by now. It's ten o'clock if you haven't noticed." The oldest said some words under his breath, while the younger just looked at Zeus like he had never seen a Pokemon before. He looked up at me when Zeus put a paw on his torn up shoe. I was about call Zeus off when the youngest actually talked.

"We couldn't leave home till Madame Boss was asleep." He squeaked. I had to strain to hear him he was speaking so softly. "Daddy said since she doesn't like me, then Gio can take me to Mr. Oak's place to life, so she can't hurt me anymore." The oldest, I guess Gio gave him a small tap on the back and whispered something into his ear. The little one looked at the ground, like he was in trouble.

"Well Sammy has his hands full with his own little one, so why don't you stay here?" I asked him. Both of them looked at me with wide eyes. Zeus rubbed his head against the youngest hand. "I mean if you want. You can stay with Zeus and me." I said as simply as I could. He looked at Gio, who nodded, and limped towards me. I took his hand slowly and took him inside. I looked back toward his brother. He mouthed thank you, and turned around and left with a Meowth, that showed up out of nowhere. I looked at the boy inside my house, who was looking around in awe. I don't know why, it's a simple house. I only have a small living room, a kitchen with the necessities, my bedroom, the guest room, and a bathroom. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, sir" He said excitedly.

"You don't have to call me sir all the time. Just call me Koda." I said, grabbing some leftovers and milk out of the ice box. I figured he hadn't eaten in days. When I put the plate of salad in front of him, he almost tore at it. I waited for him to finish before I refilled his plate. "Easy kid, the food will still be there while you swallow. By the way," He looked up from drinking his glass of milk to make eye contact with me, "I don't know your name still. I don't want to call you kid all the time." He looked at me with his curious brown eyes and, swallowed.

"My name is Richard Ashton Ketchum."

The next few years flew like a rocket. Richard loved living in Pallet. He meet Kyle Oak, as well as Delia Lee. They became the best of friends. His brother visited him too, although it was always at night. Right before he turned ten, he went exploring in the woods near my house. He came back that night with a shiny baby charmander in his hands. The baby had been left behind by it's mother before Richard found her. They became best friends and when he left to go on his journey, Flame went with him. He was a good trainer, got eight badges and when to compete in the Indigo League. Never went to get the Earth Badge though, he always said he was afraid they would recognize him. But that never stopped him from going up against Team Rocket, nope. He fought them time and time again, and time and time again he stopped them in their tracks.

When he got 4th in the Indigo League and almost beat Lance, by one attack. He always said it was that dragonite's hyper beam that did it. Afterwards Zeus got real sick. I had told Zeus it was time to move on. It hurt when he did but I knew he was going to a better place. Your dad didn't take it as well as I did. He stayed in Pallet, thinking I couldn't take care of myself. I'm not saying I didn't like him cleaning windows and stuff like that. No, I'm saying that he needed someone his own age to hang out with. So I ask Delia's parents, who ran a restaurant at the time, to give Richard a job there. That's where I started playing matchmaker, though Professor Oak called me an old, wrinkly cupid. Anyways, Richard started working at the restaurant as a cook, trying to get some money.

"I finally convinced him to ask Delia out on a date and, of course, she said yes. Actually she was excited that he asked her out. After two years of dating, he got permission from her dad and proposed to her. They both said it was the best day of their lives, and a year after they got married they had you, an annoying little boy to call all their own"

"So mommy and daddy were happy together?"

"Yep. Happiest couple I had ever seen." My 'grandson' thought about this for a second, while snuggling closer to my chest. "What's wrong, Ash?" He looked up at me and thought for a second.

"Papa, how did daddy die?" Ash asked innocently. "Mommy won't tell me. She just told me he was brave." I looked at him for a second, wondering if Delia would get on to me for telling her son. I decided that Richard would have wanted him to know.

"Ash, did your daddy tell you about the problems on Mt. Moon?" Ash shook his head. I figured he had heard from someone but, he liked my stories, even the sad ones. "Well on Mt. Moon, there had been some recent attacks. Some trainers that were trying to cross Mt. Moon had got attacked by what they called 'a huge monster'. The Pokemon League had asked some trainers to investigate for them. All they found out is that the 'monster' was a Dragonite in pain."

"The Dragonite had a boo-boo?" I had to laugh at that.

"I guess you could say that, but we couldn't figure out where. Your daddy was considered a strong trainer, so they asked him if he could catch it and get it to a Pokemon Center." I paused because this was really all we knew for a fact, the rest was left to guess work.

"What happened, Papa?" I looked down at him, wondering how to put the fact that we didn't know what happened.

"We don't know, Ash." I sighed. "We just don't know." He looked at me with big eyes, that made him look almost exactly like his dad did.

"I think mommy was right."

"What do you mean?"

"I think daddy and Flame were brave till the very end." I gave a little kiss on the forehead.

"Yeah I think you're right. Hey why don't you go see if you can't find your mom. She might need you now more than ever." He nodded his head at me and he crawled off my lap gently. I picked up my cane from next to me and stood up. I looked around to see who else was here at the viewing before my eyes landed on a man in a orange suit, with a Persian. I recognized the man as Gio. I moved a little bit closer to hear what he was mumbling about.

"…had it under control. You didn't have to do anything at all. In the end, though you were right. I turned into Madame Boss. I became what I tried to protect you from. I'm sorry."

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If you don't know who Gio is then we have problems. Anyways, I will continue my Pokemon Ranger story now. Edit: If anyone can guess what happened in Mt. Moon I will write a second chapter on an older Ash dealing with the truth, and you will get a cookie. Review or PM me what you think happened. I left several hints in the story.

Please do the poll on my profile page.

And Please read and review!


	2. Mt Moon

Thanks to the people who reviewed, there will be another chapter.

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"Richard! Can you help me find Ash?" Delia yelled at me from the bathroom. "It's time for his b-a-t-h, and I can't find him anywhere." I sighed and put down the real good book I was reading about training dragon types.

"He probably heard the water turn on and figured out what b-a-t-h spells." I yelled, guessing my son had already been in his hiding spot for a good five minutes. "Besides I'm not the one who decided to let him play outside in the mud today with Gary. You were the one who said, and I quote 'Let them be kids for a while, Richie dear. When you were a kid you loved the mud.'" I mimicked in the best Delia voice I could. Delia came down the stairs with a glare that would make a Rhydon run for cover. Of course, being the moron I am, I laughed at the expression, which only made the scowl deeper.

"I'll ask again, Richard. Will you help me find Ash, so I can give him his bath? Unless you want to stay with a cranky Ash while I go shopping in Cerulean tomorrow, I need to get him to bed soon." She said, trying to calm her voice. I knew I shouldn't have quoted her. What do I have? A death wish?

"Do you want to know the easy way of getting him to come out of hiding?" I told her, an idea and grin popping on my face. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I would love to know your 'idea'. Is it going to be like last time where you told him you would let him ride Flame to dry off instead of a towel? Or is it like the time…" Quickly standing, I put a hand over her mouth. I don't like to hear my stupid ideas shot back at me my the love of my life. She pulled my hand off her mouth, and pouted at me.

"No…This one's better. " I said, with an evil grin. "Ash! You can have ice cream for dinner tonight if you take your bath." Delia looked at me like I had lost it.

"He already had dinner." She mouthed.

"But he probably doesn't remember that." I mouthed back.

"ICE CREAM!!!" Ash yelled, running down the stairs with a small stuffed Pikachu in his hand. "Ice cream, Ice cream, Ice cream, Ice cream." He latched on to his mother's hand and pulled lightly on it. "I get ice cream, right?" She nodded, amazed that my plan worked. He was going to have ice cream for dessert anyways. " Ok then, bathy time." He ran up the stairs towards the bathroom with Delia on his heels, when I heard the phone ring.

"I got it!" I yelled, sitting down at the video phone. "Hello, Ketchum residence. This is Richard speaking."

"Richard, this is Lance. There's a problem."

_Great _I thought, _What now?_

"What's wrong, Lance? Lose your way to the Plateau, again?" I asked, rolling my eyes. The only time Lance calls is on Pokemon League business and when he is lost. It's normally the latter, when he is in the Kanto region. I figured that's the problem since it's almost nine o'clock and, they have never called after seven before.

"No, this is serious business, Richard. There is a Dragonite in the middle of Mt. Moon hurting Pokemon and trainers alike."

"What do you need me to do about it? You are the dragon trainer. I don't even own a dragon type, and Flame doesn't count." I told him, getting a little temperamental.

"Richie, I would love to handle this but, there is a problem in Dark Cave that they asked me to look into. There is a similar problem there but, it's a rampaging Onix that's killed some people. Look I know you have a kid you need to look after but, what if someone else's kid dies because of this." He got me there. I grimaced at the thought at being one of those parents, hearing that my kid died because of some mad Pokemon.

"Where at in Mt. Moon?" I sighed. "Unlike you, I don't have fun getting lost."

"Near the peak. At least past the fourth floor but, no one is entirely sure. The trainers that have faced it so far can't agree where they found it. So I think it stays on the move."

"No really?" I said sarcastically. "It's being attacked and you think it's going to stay in one place."

"DADDY, MOMMY SAID IT'S TIME FOR ICE CREAM!!" I shook my head.

"I'll get on that right away." I hung up the phone. I was ticked that I wouldn't have time with my son but, I am needed somewhere else to help people. Ash ran into the room, finally in his charmander pajamas.

"Daddy, your ice cream is melting." He said, as I picked him up. He saw that I wasn't smiling. "Don't you like ice cream, Daddy?"

"I like ice cream, Ash, but, I won't be able to have any tonight. I have to go help some people." I said as seriously as possible. Delia stood in the doorway of the kitchen with a worried look in her face. I guess she overheard my conversation with Lance.

"So… No ice cream for Daddy?" I shook my head. Mew, my son was dense.

"No Ash but, you can have my ice cream. How bout that?" He looked at me like he didn't understand what I was trying to say. "And when I get back, in the morning, you can help me train my team." That perked him up. I could already see he would be a great trainer.

"Ok, Daddy." I gave him to Delia and gave both of them a quick kiss. I grabbed my poke ball belt and walked out the door. I pulled Flame's ball of the belt.

"Flame, I need your help." I told her as my black Charizard came out. She grunted, signaling that she was ready. "There is a rouge Dragonite in Mt. Moon that Lance wants us to take care of. Think you can fly us there?" She roared and opened her wings wide. I think she was insulted that I asked. "Good, then onto Mt. Moon."

The trip to Mt. Moon was uneventful. All we did was play some I spy, which is really hard to play with a Charizard that only grunts and roars. Note to self, teach Flame to talk, it would make these trips a lot easier. When we got there, I looked up at the top. "I wonder where it's hiding?" Flame just grunted.

"I hope you aren't planning on going up there." I turned around to see an elderly woman, probably in her early 60s.

"Actually ma'am, we were. The league sent us to look into a problem coming from this area."

"Well, there is a monster living up at the top of that mountain. My father told me that it only comes down when bad children are around. Goes to show you what these kids are now a days. That's when it came. When a bunch of kids, all wearing the same black outfit, went into there." Honestly I wasn't sure if I should laugh or act scared. I mean, come on! I came in second place at the Indigo Plateau Tournament! I had nothing to be scared of.

"Thank you ma'am. We'll keep your warning in mind." I said entering the mouth of the cave. Flame followed me in keeping her tail out in front of her for a light. I called out Spark, my Pikachu, and Toothy, my Ratacate, to help us search. We climbed our way to the top. "Anyone hear anything?" I asked, trying to keep quiet. I really didn't want to wake a herd of Zubats. I looked over at Spark and Toothy to see them both shaking their heads. "Great, then let's keep moving."

We went a little higher up the mountain, only to find Onixs and Gravelers wanting to battle at every turn. I had to recall Spark and Toothy, so Flame could take care of them using earthquake. "We are almost at the top." I told Flame. We didn't see any pokemon around here so I guessed the Dragonite scared them off. As we got to the peak, I heard people talking. I quickly hid behind a rock, signaling to Flame to dim her tail.

"So how longer till the boss gives the go for the project?" One of the voices said.

"Can't be much longer now. I heard the League is getting suspicious. They might send Lance out here soon. I don't think the boss wants that."

_Of course we'll get suspicious! People could die from this! _I wanted to yell. Instead I bit my tongue. I heard Flame growl a little bit. They walked off farther into the cave. Flame and I followed far enough behind so they wouldn't see us. As we got deeper in the cave, I heard a voice I hadn't heard in years.

"Get those parts over here! We don't have all year! Those League trainers could be here any day now!" My eyes widen as I recognized the voice.

"Yes, Boss!"

_Giovanni! But how? Why is he here? Is he in charge of them now? _I couldn't believe my eyes and ears.

"Let's find that Dragonite and get out of here." I whispered in Flame ear. She nodded, understanding why I wanted to get out of here. Then Gio yelling at his men again and, I hid just in case he saw me.

"We need to find that Dragonite now! I want it back to the lab to test that enragement operation."

I hid a growl in the back of my throat. I saw one of the scientists look my way. He turn to one of the grunts and said something to him. I popped Flame in the shoulder to tell her that we were getting out of here now. We were able to get outside of the cave, I thought, unnoticed.

"Let's see if we can find another way up. We need to get to that Dragonite before they do." I told Flame. She growled at me which I took as meaning 'What will we do with it? Talk to it?' I gave a weak chuckle and put my hand in my pocket, feeling a piece of paper I was sure wasn't there before. I pulled it out to reveal a picture Ash drew which I remembered was of myself and Flame. I still didn't see how two squiggly lines was me but, I was no artist either. "I don't know Flame, but we have to do something. We can't just let them do whatever they want to it."

"Don't see why." I spun around to find the voice behind me, a voice that I still remember.

"Gio." One of the grunts stepped forward towards me, as Flame and I got in defense mode.

"How dare you treat the boss with so much disrespect." The grunt spat. Gio put his hand up, clearly annoyed. The grunt stepped back.

"Shut it, Saturn." Gio said. He turned to me, his Persian at his side. "What are you doing here, little brother?" He asked. His grunts all looked between us in amazement. Gio showed no emotion at all.

"Well," I said, lacing every word with sarcasm. "I'm here to look into a Dragonite that had been attacking some trainers near here." I put my hands in my pockets, Clutching on to Ash's picture. "But I was just about to call my good friend, Lance, and report to him on what's happening. You know, normal League business like that." Gio suddenly had a scowl. I guess he didn't expect his own brother going to 'betray' him like this. "I would ask about what you are doing but, we over heard enough." His Persian growled beside him. Flame answered with an greater growl, scaring the cat enough to hide behind his master.

"I really don't see why we can't work together on this. We both get rid of a problem." Gio tried to sound convincing . I just laughed.

"Really? I see hundreds of reasons. Do you really think I would let you take the Dragonite so you can use it for your experiments?"

"Well not like you will put it to any better use." I bit my lip in anger at the familiar tone he was using, a tone I never wanted to hear ever again.

"Do you know who you sound like?" I asked. Gio just cocked his head ever so slightly. If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't had seen it. "You sound like her." I spat out the last word. I could feel the scar on my cheek tingling. That's where she hit me every time I stood in the wrong place or something stupid like that. Gio for once had no answer. Before I had time to ask him something else, we all heard a loud roar.

"The Dragonite!" One of the grunts yelled. All of the grunts pulled out small, low level pokemon, like Rattatas and Koffings. I called out Fight, my Pidgeot, and told Flame to get ready. I looked around and found that Gio had disappeared.

_Coward. _I shook my head. _Forget about him and work on capturing this Dragonite. _I fingered one of the empty poke balls in my pocket, ready to throw it when it was weak enough. _I wish I had an ultra ball right about now. _As the Dragonite came in sight, it let out a powerful thunder attack.

"Flame, Flight, get up in the sky and dodge it!" I yelled. It missed both of them due to their fancy flying. The grunts pokemon weren't as lucky, most of them were on the ground, fainted. The Dragonite looked like it was about to try thunder again. "Flame, use flamethrower! Flight, use tailwind to speed Flame up." I watched as Flight flapped his wings, creating a wind that Flame used to her advantage to get close. Avoiding the thunder, she let loose a powerful stream of fire from her mouth. The Dragonite released a powerful hyper beam towards Flight. "Flight, move!" I yelled, knowing there was no way he could dodge the attack. The hyper beam hit it's mark and Flight fell to the ground. I returned him to his poke ball.

"You did good my old friend." I was about to pull out another poke ball, when I saw the Dragonite open its mouth and create a ball of blue energy. "Flame! It's using focus blast! Counter with dragon pulse!" Flame created a ball of blue-green energy and released it just in time for the two attacks to collide. The resulting explosion made a small tremor. I hoped someone felt that and sent help. I can't get a signal on this stupid poke gear. _Stupid new tech._ I heard a roar from the Dragonite and it started to get cold.

"Flame! It's using blizzard! Try to cut through it with flamethrower!" I yelled. I could see the flame coming out of Flame's mouth to counter the ice attack but, it wasn't enough to stop ice from forming on her wings. She roared and flapped them to try to shake the ice off. The Dragonite started to charge another hyper beam. I knew it was useless for Flame to try to move. I started to fumble around for Flame's poke ball, so she can't get hurt, when I realize that the hyper beam isn't aiming towards Flame. My eyes widened with shock as the hyper beam was fired at me. It was like my feet were glued to the spot. I saw Flame dive in front of me, as fast as she could, taking the hyper beam straight to her chest. She was knocked into me at full force. The both of us slammed into the weakened wall. I felt the vibrations shaking the wall, as I laid under Flame immobile body. "Richard!" I heard Gio call. The next thing I knew, we were being hit by falling rocks from the crumbling wall. Only one thought went through my body, as I felt the pressure crack my bones and my poke balls, killing my loyal partners.

_I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise, Ash. Delia, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the both of you._

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Ok just so everyone knows. Giovanni found Richard's body under the rock slide and took him to the mouth of the cave, where Lance was looking for him.

The next, and last, chapter of this is Giovanni telling Ash. I thought the person that 'killed' his dad should tell him.

One last thing, please do the poll on my profile if you want me to write about Richard as a kid. I'll keep the poll up till June. If I don't get much response I won't write it.

So Please press the button with the green writing at the bottom and leave a review.


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